Women Trafficked from Mexico to Queens

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"At first it was thirty clients a night. My pimp was very violent towards me, almost to the point of killing me."

— Alicia, victim of sex trafficking

Every year, thousands of women, many between the ages of 11 to 14, are lured are smuggled from Mexico into the United States and forced to become sex workers.

For a majority of the women, they have no idea what they are getting into. They are seduced by traffickers who promise them a better life, big houses and cars, a coverup for the life of sexual exploitation they will soon endure. Many of these women end up in Queens, New York where they work live and work in brothels and answer only to their pimps. Others are advertised on "chica cards," which includes a phone number customers can call to request sexual services from the women.

The BBC's Laura Trevelyan followed the sex trafficking route from Tenancingo, Mexico to Queens, New York and spoke with female victims, pimps and law enforcement officials along the way.

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Comments [4]

listener

Interesting how the illegal immigration angle is ignored in the discussion. Is this what comes from open borders and sanctuary cities? If Arizona is being sued by the US Justice Department than why not states that do not strictly enforce federal immigration law to prevent this modern day slavery?Do you think this administration is motivated by politics rather than the rule of law?

Ed, mate, we're talking about Mexico, not China, where the demographics, economic and culture issues, and nature of crimes are very different (i.e., the Mexican cartels run illegal rackets involving drugs, human and sex slaves, and poached wildlife and have protected their "turfs" with the murder of over 50,000 people in the last 6 years). Also, why are you always so insistently keen on ballooning the already unsustainable human population to even higher levels? I'm not saying the one-child policy is the way to go, but certainly a more concerted global effort needs to be achieved to temper our growing numbers.